4.  The applicants were born in 1957, 1952 and 1926 respectively and live in Gerasdorf.
5.  In 1983 land consolidation proceedings were opened in respect of Gerasdorf, where the applicants live as farmers. The proceedings related to a total area of 1,329 hectares, including 60 hectares out of the 200 hectares of the applicants’ farming estate. The applicants and other family members used to farm their land jointly. In addition they had entered into agreements on rights of use (Nutzungstauschvereinbarungen) with other farmers, allowing them to cultivate third-party plots while waiving their rights to cultivate a number of their own plots of land. These agreements had been made orally and had not been entered into the land register.
6.  In 1986 the occupation and valuation schedule (Besitzstands- und Bewertungsausweis) was issued and on 13 November 1986 the provisional transfer of property (vorläufige Übernahme) was ordered.
7.  On 16 May 1990 the District Agricultural Authority issued the consolidation plan (Zusammenlegungsplan), against which the applicants and some other family members appealed on 5 July 1990. Thirty-seven other parties also appealed.
8.  The Regional Land Reform Board (Landesagrarsenat) granted the applicants’ appeal as well as the appeals of thirty-four other parties in a decision of 28 April 1992 and referred the case back to the lower instance.
9.  In January 1993 the applicants filed an application for transfer of jurisdiction (Devolutionsantrag). As a result, the Regional Land Reform Board became competent to deal with the matter. The applicants’ further application for transfer of jurisdiction to the Supreme Land Reform Board was dismissed by the latter on 7 December 1994 on the ground that there had not been an undue delay in the proceedings before the Regional Land Reform Board. Consequently, the proceedings remained pending before the Regional Land Reform Board.
10.  On 19 June 1995 the Regional Land Reform Board having held a hearing issued a new consolidation plan, amending the allocation of compensatory parcels to the applicants and a number of other parties. The applicants appealed.
11.  In a decision of 6 December 1995 the Supreme Land Reform Board decided to suspend the appeal proceedings pending further amendments of the consolidation plan concerning other parties. The applicants filed a complaint against that decision with the Constitutional Court. On 13 March 1996 the Constitutional Court refused to deal with the complaint and transferred the case to the Administrative Court where it became pending on 7 May 1996. On 7 November 1996 the Supreme Land Reform Board submitted observations.
12.  On 26 May 1998 the Administrative Court (Verwaltungsgerichtshof) quashed the decision of 6 December 1995 and ordered the Supreme Land Reform Board to continue the proceedings.
13.  Subsequently between 27 October 1998 and 2 June 1999 the Supreme Land Reform Board conducted comprehensive proceedings. It carried out on-site visits, took expert opinions and held a number of hearings. It appears that in the course of a hearing held in April 1999 two judges declared to withdraw from the case as they were also sitting in related proceedings concerning the applicants’ claim under the Official Liability Act.
14.  By decisions of 2 June and 12 October 1999 the Supreme Land Reform Board, after having held hearings in its new composition, again amended the consolidation plan in respect of the applicants and a number of other parties.
15.  The applicants’ complaint against the Supreme Land Reform Board’s decision of 2 June 1999 was dismissed by the Constitutional Court for lack of prospects of success on 27 September 1999 and the case was transferred to the Administrative Court. After the applicants had amended their complaint, the Supreme Land Reform Board submitted the files on 16 May 2000 and observations on 21 July 2000.
16.  The applicants’ complaint against the Supreme Land Reform Board’s decision of 12 October 1999 was dismissed by the Constitutional Court for lack of prospects of success on 13 June 2000 and the case was transferred to the Administrative Court. After the applicants had amended their complaint, the Supreme Land Reform Board submitted observations on 13 March 2001.
17.  In the meantime, the appeal of a third party against the Supreme Land Reform Board’s decisions, led to an amendment of the consolidation plan concerning the first and third applicants by the Regional Land Reform Board’s decision of 4 July 2000. Their appeal was dismissed by the Supreme Land Reform Board on 6 June 2001.
18.  The first and third applicant’s complaint against the Supreme Land Reform Board’s decision of 6 June 2001 was dismissed by the Constitutional Court on 25 June 2003 and the case was transferred to the Administrative Court. The Supreme Land Reform Board submitted observations on 1 October 2003.
19.  In judgments of 3 July 2003, 11 September 2003 and 20 January 2005 the Administrative Court set aside the Supreme Land Reform Board’s decisions of 2 June and 12 October 1999 and of 6 June 2001 for various procedural defects. However, it dismissed the applicants’ argument that the agreements on rights of use concluded by them prior to the opening of the land consolidation proceedings should have been taken into account in the occupation and valuation schedule. In that respect the Administrative Court found that neither section 10 nor any other provision of the Lower Austria Agricultural Act (Flurverfassungs-Landesgesetz) supported the applicants’ position. Consequently, the case was again pending before the Supreme Land Reform Board.
20.  Following hearings on 4 April 2005 and 22 June 2005 the Supreme Land Reform Board issued a new decision on the latter date, again amending the consolidation plan and modifying the land compensation granted to the applicants.
21.  On 28 November 2005 the Constitutional Court refused to deal with the applicants’ complaint for lack of prospects of success and transferred the case to the Administrative Court. The Supreme Land Reform Board submitted its observations on 9 May 2006. In January 2008 the Administrative Court requested it to submit further documents.
22.  On 21 February 2008 the Administrative Court dismissed the applicants’ complaints as being unfounded. It confirmed the legal view that the agreements on the use of parcels concluded by the applicants were not to be taken into account in the occupation and valuation schedule. Furthermore, the Administrative Court held that the proceedings had corrected the procedural defects criticised by its earlier decision. Lastly, the compensatory parcels awarded to the applicants complied with the requirements of the Lower Austria Agricultural Act.
23.  The judgment was served on the applicants’ counsel on 11 March 2008.
24.  In 1990 the applicants brought official liability proceedings for loss of earnings as a result of the delays in the land consolidation proceedings and allocation of land of minor quality. Following a first set of proceedings, the Supreme Court, by its judgment of 9 June 1998, remitted the case to the Vienna Regional Civil Court. The proceedings before that court were stayed in June 2000 at the applicants’ request in order to await the outcome of the land consolidation proceedings. They were resumed in June 2008. On 30 December 2009 the Vienna Regional Civil Court dismissed the applicants’ claim. The applicants appealed. The outcome of the proceedings is not known.
25.  At an unknown date, the applicants brought compensation proceedings under section 26a of the Lower Austria Agricultural Act. On 17 February 2009 the Regional Land Reform Board rejected the applicants’ compensation claim. On 29 June 2010 the Supreme Land Reform Board dismissed their appeal.